How The Other Half Lives

H and I have visited quite a number of castles together. We share a love for old things.

Here's the Chateau Bonaguil, which I glazed over in a December blog.

This was the time we took my family to Versailles, a few minutes after this picture we stopped talking because we kind of lost each other in the halls cluttered with the grotesqueries of Murakami.

This was taken inside the walls of Provins back when we were still dating and the buttons on my coat weren't popping.

This is "The Empire of Death" in the catacombs of Paris.

Which is not exactly a castle.

I have a lot of other pictures, but my filing system is so messy, I don't know where half of them are. H keeps lecturing me on the convenience of archiving by date, but numbers just confuse me and turn me into a crying mess. Anyway, that's not what this is about.

This entry is about our brief life as royalty at Chateau de Castel Novel.

That's me under the umbrella!

H's parents gave us a "Reves et Delices" (dreams and delights) Smartbox for Christmas, and we had a delightful time choosing among the chateaus and boutique hotels listed in Europe. In the end, we said no to Trianon (in Versailles) because we don't want to stay around Paris - even though we were passing up on an unquestionably great dinner. But the reviews online for Castel Novel were so glowing, not one guest was unhappy with the service! So we took a chance and took a road trip to Brive - which is so jolie in the spring, with hills and valleys in different shades of green.

Castel Novel is part of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux group, which is a measure of excellence in cuisine, luxury, and charming off-the-beaten-path locations . We stayed in the little tower, which we asked for specifically after checking out the other rooms through the website.

The ceiling.

It may have been built in the 13th century, with the rest of the castle finished in the 1800s, but after it was renovated in the 70s as a hotel the wallpapers have not changed since. 70s style wallpaper, people. I cannot sleep with walls that busy. One sleeping disorder is enough.

So we got this room, featured in the Smartbox, and it looks every bit like a BBC costume drama! Except for the heater, phone and flat screen TV :)

The hotel used to be the home of Henri de Jouvenel, journalist and husband of Colette, who's in turn quite famous with the French, though I only know her as the author of Gigi. I feel so ignorant :p

Before it was turned into a four star hotel, the intellectual elite of France used to gather here to relax. We found a pool, tennis court, small vineyard and helicopter pad within the grounds.

People come up here for dinner because the plates are AWESOME. It's a good thing I don't understand much French though, because H said there was an old guy bragging to his wife that they were drinking a one thousand euro bottle of wine. Yabang ni lolo.

I think the valley below is Varetz. Just guessing.

They lived up to their promise of a gastronomic feast. The owner is a Michelin star chef, and his wife (the manager) talked to us while we had dinner. The food and the service were impeccable! I was raving throughout dinner. The cheese tray nearly killed me, but the dessert tray that came after the dessert plate did me in. H practically carried me back to the room because I indulged my inner glutton to exhaustion. It was not one of my better moments.

One of the dinner rooms. 

Just to prove I was there. Hee hee.

Our breakfast view. Spring!!!

When I was younger, living in a castle was just a dream. It was great to do this even if it was just a taste of the life. With H and I quitting our old lives and starting anew in the next few months, a life of luxury seems like just another dream. But then there are other dreams waiting to come true, and we could at least say nothing is impossible now that we've lived in a castle.